A Hong Kong court said that one of the city’s biggest conglomerates couldn’t stop striking dock workers from camping at its doorstep—at least for now—in what protesters hailed as a temporary victory Friday.

Hundreds of city port workers have been on strike over a pay dispute for nearly a month, and last week pitched tents outside of Cheung Kong Center, saying they wouldn’t leave until chairman Li Ka-shing—the city’s richest man—personally intervened to resolve the matter. Cheung Kong controls Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., whose unit, Hongkong International Terminals, operates many of Hong Kong’s shipping berths.

Despite this week’s rain storms, union organizer Wong Yu-loy said strikers on Friday were continuing to camp outside Cheung Kong Center, in defiance of the company’s demands that they leave its premises. On Thursday, the city’s High Court also declined to support Hutchison Whampoa’s request for an injunction to remove the protesters, and pushed back further review of the question until next Friday. Hutchison Whampoa declined to discuss details of its request.

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For weeks, the dock workers have been demanding a 20% rise in pay, as well as an improvement in working conditions. Hongkong International Terminals has said the workers are employed by subcontractors, so it couldn’t be directly involved in salary negotiations.

But there are now signs the strike’s effects are beginning to peter out. According to HIT, as new workers have been hired and some strikers have returned, waiting times for ships have narrowed to 20-25 hours, compared to about 60 hours when the strike first started. “The docks are operating at about 80-90% of capacity,” the company said in a statement.

On Friday, Mr. Wong said that workers were “ready to negotiate” and that the previous 20% figure was negotiable. “It’s not our final demand,” he said. “We will resume negotiations anytime.” Previous mediation sessions had failed to broker any agreement.

Earlier this week, several hundred protesters slowed traffic outside the ports by temporarily blocking the roads, police said. Meanwhile, some 20 student protesters dressed up in suits went into Cheung Kong Center to hold up banners and deliver a letter urging Mr. Li to support the dockworkers, said Willis Ho of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.

“We also have students collecting food and water and raising money for them,” says Ms. Ho. “This isn’t only a protest of workers, it is a protest of all the Hong Kong people.”

There are currently around 50 active student organizers working on the campaign to support dock workers, she said, down from the several hundred when the strike first began. “But the others still go to Cheung Kong to show their support when they can,” she said.

Public anger against Li Ka-shing has surged in recent years, along with the city’s wealth gap, as many youth feel they no longer have the opportunities Mr. Li’s generation had to get ahead. Mr. Li’s company controls one of Hong Kong’s two largest shopping chains, a major pharmacy and electronics retailer, as well as one of the city’s largest mobile operators and many housing complexes.

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